As per Rolls practice, the doors are rear hinged, so you just walk in and out. Those door handles could have come off a bank vault. The chrome decor has the same effect, like hewn and polished mass. The very few lines that do exist are knife-sharp, but because of the surface strength it looks like a solid block of carved metal, rather than what it actually is, mere bent sheet. But the Spectre's planes are just so, and the effect is of a car of monolithic strength. You realise it's really difficult to do - they mostly look weak and fragile. Look around at all the cars that have such relatively flat surfaces and few feature lines. The body's surfaces are utterly confident. That's what motors front and back totalling 585bhp and 664lb ft can do for you. Even so, the Spectre claims 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds. Then there's the 2,975kg unladen mass to think of. It's still going to take a lot of pushing through the air. Great work chaps, but look at the size of it. Of course drag matters, and BMW's expertise via endless CFD and tunnel hours have got them down to a Cd of 0.25. Those wheels are 23 inches in diameter, a size that can make a Range Rover look like a Golf. The Spectre is absolutely a full-size Rolls-Royce. A fastback coupe is an emotional car.' Its job is effectively to replace the spectacular Phantom Coupe, absent from the range since 2016. 'This is the beginning of a new era for Rolls-Royce and it needs a celebration. 'The Spectre is as important for us as the Silver Ghost.' Since the 40/50HP Ghost came out in 1906, he presumably doesn't say this lightly. Much to our delight, the first electric Rolls-Royce is a coupe, not some gallumphing SUV. The feedback on electric propulsion in general is very positive.' So the Spectre doesn't have to introduce them to the idea of a charge cable instead of a hose of explosive liquid. On average they own seven cars and many already own an electric car. 'In comparison between where the clients were and now, it has changed massively. Müller-Ötvös has been asking them for a decade what they think about EVs. After all, even though their numbers keep growing, there still aren't that many of them. Rolls-Royce knows those customers intimately. 'The customers always said: it has to be a Rolls-Royce first, electric second.'

So Top Gear asks Rolls-Royce's boss, Torsten Müller-Ötvös the obvious question: what kept you? His reply is emphatic.

But this is changing: in a year's time, this rather fabulous all-electric Spectre will land with its first customers. Or perhaps more relevant a 2015 Tesla Model X – a powerful, heavy, car that goes a long way and charges fast. After 120 years of trying, no petrol Rolls-Royce has a powertrain as smooth or silent or responsive as that of a 2011 Nissan Leaf. There is no smell or vibration.' Although, presciently, he did add that he had infrastructure concerns. CS Rolls himself said it in 1900: 'The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There can hardly be a more suitable drive for a Rolls-Royce than electric motors.

Rolls royce spectre 2023